Chapter 78
Ye Hua said: “This Great Stadium is full of magic formations, and they are powerful enough to withstand the attacks of people at the ninth step of their vocation. How can the elemental fluctuations not be strong?”
Under the guidance of the stadium’s workers, they came to the contestants’ seating area. At this time, a lot of people had already come, and the participants were all fully dressed in martial attire, every one of them exuding a valiant air.
Not long after, the dome of the stadium started to light up, and a circle of golden light began to swell and spread out. Because there were no spectators, the area around the stadium was full of empty space. Ten-some people had already arrived on the arena’s podium, but because the podium was much too high, events up there couldn’t be followed from below.
A forceful voice sounded from the podium, “Report concluded. This Demon Hunt Selection’s preliminary rounds begin now. We hope that participants of each city will put forth their best effort. The competition’s regulations prohibit deliberate disabling of an opponent. If the opposing party receives a mortal wound, then the other party is automatically disqualified, and the responsibility of subsequent investigation will fall on the respective cities to whom the participants belong to.”
“All the preliminary matches are knockout competitions. Today we will proceed with the first round of preliminary matches. There is a reported number of 138 contestants, including four participants of the fifth step. Those four will not participate in the first two rounds. The drawing will now begin, all contestants get ready.”
It wasn’t known how things in the stadium were manipulated. In the air at the center of the dome, a huge golden ball of light slowly appeared. Immediately, the ball of light began to flash as digits flickered.
Li Xin muttered: “For such a famous event as the Demon Hunt Selection, it’s actually this simple! There’s not even an opening ceremony.”
Ye Hua indifferently replied: “This is an elite selection competition, not a show. What would it do with a ceremony? There are one hundred thirty-something participants, and on the first day, there are already more than sixty matches. If you waste time, when would the competition end?”
Right as they were speaking, that golden ball of light that was suspended in midair and flashing with digits all of sudden stopped. Two large numbers appeared and were projected into the air.
“First battle, #29 versus #97. Both parties enter the arena. Those that do not enter the arena within a period of ten breaths will be disqualified.”
_#97?_ Long Hao Chen abruptly started, _Isn’t that me?_
Ye Hua and Li Xin also received a big scare. Who would have thought that Long Hao Chen would actually be drawn for the first match.
The rest of the participants in the surroundings simultaneously turned their gazes towards the excessively handsome youngster, Long Hao Chen.
Ye Hua had already recovered from shock and hastily said: “Face the opponent calmly, go steadily and strike firmly.”
“En.” Long Hao Chen answered and didn’t dare to linger, already striding forward with big steps. Following the stairs, he entered the arena.
Long Hao Chen’s opponent was a youth, seemingly around twenty years old, fully clothed in silver armor. Just like Long Hao Chen, he was a Guardian knight: his left hand carried a shield, while his right held a sword.
Following the two contestants into the arena was a middle aged man dressed in white clothes that were easy to move around in. He was obviously this match’s referee.
Without any superfluous words, once the two contestants were in the center of the arena and roughly fifty meters away from each other, the referee announced in a loud voice: “Match begin. You are prohibited from disabling the opponent. Once one side concedes or loses their ability to battle, they have lost.”
Following the referee’s declaration, a layer of golden light surged upwards from the arena, barring it from the spectators.
Right as Long Hao Chen was about to begin his very first match in the Demon Hunt Selection, something was occurring in another dimension.
Pitch black. This was a pitch black world. Wild gales blew ferociously, and the moon in the sky gleamed with an eerie luster. There was rushing lava and highly toxic gas as far as the eye could see.
In a deep and distant cave, Hao Yue quietly crept around. Little Light and Little Flame’s eyes flickered with a dazzling sheen. Before them, the stone orb, which had been bought for ten thousand gold coins, had already split and cracked. Threads of bright, emerald light were currently spreading out with no sign of stopping.
Little Light and Little Flame continually took deep breaths, ingesting these emerald strands of light into their stomach. The three gleaming purple veins on their back flashed unceasingly, and their body exuded a fierce, bloody air. The sharp claws of their four limbs dug fiercely into the ground.
Looking through the cracks in the stone orb, one could see that there seemed to be an emerald sphere inside. The surface of the sphere was actually all scaly. Following the shimmering of emerald light, one could faintly see that there seemed to be a lizard-like shape, and it was this emerald sphere that radiated an incorporeal majesty. This was a dragon’s might.
If Lin Xin could see the emerald sphere inside this stone orb, he’d likely regret it until his innards turned green. This was, quite impressively, a dragon pill! This dragon pill was a seventh tier medicine
The dragon population was extremely small, but every genuine, giant dragon was at least a powerhouse of the eighth step or higher. The most powerful would be a Dragon King, who was actually at the tenth step, which was equivalent to a human expert at the ninth step.
The greatest issue of the dragon clan was the matter of giving birth. Only once in a great while, after a thousand something years, would there be a chance to breed a new generation, and this was the cause of the rarity of dragon pills. The reason was because dragon pills were dragon eggs that couldn’t hatch. Only after incubating for a millennium and absorbing the spiritual energy of the heavens and the earth would one be formed.
Seeing how difficult it was for the dragon clan to bear succeeding generations, one could imagine how much the dragons treasured their eggs. Therefore, acquiring a dragon egg that had become a dragon pill was really too hard. On rare occasions, a dragon pill might even surpass eighth tier medicine.
Dragon pills were of use to both the human race and magical beasts. If a human ingested it, then they would possess the blood of dragons, and their inner and external spiritual energy would shoot up by at least three hundred units. Furthermore, their limit of external spiritual energy would be promoted to five thousand units. Using a dragon pill basically guaranteed that one would have the capacity to reach the seventh step.
If a magical beast wanted to use a dragon pill, the prerequisites were much higher. First and foremost, it had to be of dragon lineage in order to digest the pill. Next, their level had to be lower than the sixth rank. This way, taking it would enable them to evolve, and in terms of efficacy, it would increase its level by a step.
Hao Yue was taking and absorbing the spiritual aura contained in a Dragon Pill, and looking at him, it looked as if he didn’t fear any negative effect the Dragon Pill could have.
“Houu–” Little Light let out a low pitched howl, and looking at him, Little Fire calmly nodded.
A faint purple light was emitted from the summit of their heads, slowly giving birth to a violet-colored horn, and immediately, as Hao Yue charged with the horn, a _pa_ sound could be heard as the Dragon Pill was being embedded in the hard part of his horn.
His pair of heads, below the hard part under their purple-colored horn, seemed as frail as tofu, as instantly, dragon scales came out from the location of the dark-green-colored dragon pill.
At this moment, Little Light and Little Fire’s eyes changed completely from their gold and red color, taking a deep purple color. Lifting up his heads, they looked far ahead, longing for his other world, the world of his companion.
_Big Bro, wait for our return!_
Little Light ferociously lowered his head, opening wide his mouth, and swallowing the dark-green Dragon Pill at once. Instantly, an intense green color surged out from his body, as the bulge in the neck in the side of Little Light violently squirmed, an intense and desolate power surging out from its body…
1. the word for tier is the same as the word for step in Chinese, so you can consider that it is a medicine of/for the seventh step.
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap